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Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Rise, Rise and Fall of Sir Roger Mortimer

by Arthur Russell

Sir Roger Mortimer

After
the defeat of Edward Bruce at Faughart in Ireland in October 1318, Sir Roger
Mortimer’s reputation as an effective soldier and administrator made him a
vital ally of King Edward II. The King was facing a resurgence of rebellion
from his barons mostly arising from the activities of his latest favourite, Sir
Hugh Despenser, his closest adviser. Established laws and agreements were being
set aside to endow Despenser’s family with lands and titles as Despenser took
over roles the King was too lazy or unwilling to perform himself. The pattern
for this been set a decade earlier with a former Royal favourite, Piers
Gaveston. The difference from Mortimer’s point of view was that while Gaveston
had been his mentor and friend, Despenser was a mortal enemy arising from an
old Marchland dispute in which Despenser’s grandfather was killed by Mortimer’s
grandfather. This meant that Mortimer had to be careful. The King might
appreciate his talents but showed that he had no qualms ignoring everything
when it came to pleasing Despenser. Mortimer was somewhat relieved to be sent back
to Ireland as Justiciar, thereby taking him away from court intrigues. He was “out of sight, out of mind”.

Over
the next 2 years he restored the post Bruce Irish colony to a healthy state so
that by the time he left, the country had not known such peace and prosperity for
generations. By contrast, the England he returned to in late 1320, was on the
brink of civil war due to the continuing actions of Despenser.

Mortimer joins the rebellion - Mortimer’s
interests had suffered considerably in his absence. He felt constrained to join
an alliance of barons who resisted what Despenser, and through him the King
were doing. As a Marcher Lord with rights and privileges that were guaranteed
under Magna Carta, Mortimer simply had no other choice. The King was alarmed by
this latest challenge and summoned the barons to court to declare their loyalty.
The rebel barons ignored the summons and attacked Despenser territory in South
Wales. Despenser pressured the King to declare them traitors; which meant their
lands and titles were forfeit. At this point, the rebels were at pains to say
their opposition was not against the King, but against the Despensers (father
and son). Edward offered concessions, but refused their demand to banish the
Despensers. Mortimer was stripped of his Irish Justicarship in favour of a Despenser
relative who proceeded to return Ireland to the anarchy from which it had been rescued.

During
the next months, the King was forced by the rebels to banish the Despensers.
The elder Despenser fled to Bordeaux, blaming his son’s greed for his family’s
downfall. Sir Hugh became a pirate exacting revenge on ships conducting trade
and commerce between England and the Continent. This caused economic damage as
well as severe embarrassment to Edward, who seemed less disturbed by this than
by the anger and insult he held against the rebel barons, now clearly led by
Mortimer.

What
followed was one of the most rapid changes of fortunes in history.

King Edward II

Royal Revenge - Having won their
campaign against the Despensers, the rebel alliance immediately fell apart. The
event that sparked the King’s revenge was the refusal of one of them to allow
Queen Isabella to shelter in Leeds Castle as she went on pilgrimage to
Canterbury. The King ordered the castle to be besieged, while none of the
alliance came to help. The offending lord and some followers were executed by
the King who now, with the help of barons who had not previously taken sides; felt
strong enough to move against the remaining rebels. Mortimer quickly realized
that his best course lay in making his own peace with the King, who accepted
his submission and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. All Mortimer titles
and properties were seized by the crown.

In
the following months, the King exacted terrible revenge on the barons with a
series of horrific executions, while Sir Hugh Despenser was recalled from exile
and restored to his former position. Despenser wanted Mortimer executed, but
bowed to the King’s wish to commute this to perpetual incarceration in the
Tower.

The
King now had absolute power, which meant that no castle or estate was safe from
Despenser who continued to enrich himself and his family at the expense of
those he considered the King’s (and his) enemies. This drew the enmity of the
bishops and Queen Isabella, the sister of the French King Charles IV, who increasingly
saw Mortimer as the best focus for growing opposition to what had become Royal
tyranny.

In
1322, she accompanied the King and Despenser on a disastrous Scottish campaign
and was treated to the sight of her husband and his chief minister ungallantly
fleeing from King Robert’s army, leaving her to fend for herself. With the help
of her ladies, two of whom died, she eventually managed to find her way back to
court.

Mortimer the Exile - Both Despenser and
the King now saw the threat that Mortimer alive, even as a prisoner; posed.
Despenser determined to kill him, confident that the King would have to allow
it; but before this could happen, Mortimer, with the connivance of the Queen
and the sub-lieutenant of the Tower, escaped and fled to France. It was months
before the enraged King learned where Mortimer was. He suspected the Queen’s
role in the escape and punished her by stopping her income. The four royal
children were taken from Isabella and put in the care of Lady Despenser.

France
and England were by now edging towards war with one another, due mainly to Despenser’s
bellicose policies towards France which he was forcing on the King. This meant
that Mortimer was welcomed by King Charles as an ally. All England feared
imminent invasion by Mortimer the fugitive, who was now cast in the role of bogeyman
supreme and the focus for everyone who resented Royal tyranny.

In
March 1325 the King allowed his Queen to travel to France to use her influence
to defuse the political situation with her brother. He sent handpicked servants
with her with instructions to spy and report “disloyal” actions and words. In
truth the Queen was delighted to leave England and her ruined marriage behind
her. She managed to forge a peace
between Edward and Charles, which while distasteful to Edward, was as good as he
could have hoped. One significant condition was that the 14 year old heir, Prince
Edward, had to present himself in France to pay homage to Charles. This brought
the Prince to his mother’s side and under her influence. Edward immediately demanded
that wife and son return immediately to England. With her brother’s support, Isabella
refused, blaming the obnoxious (to her) presence of Despenser at court as her reason.

On
Christmas Day 1325, Mortimer finally met Isabella at the French court and thus began
the most notable romance (and Royal scandal) of the Middle Ages between the
exiled baron and the spurned Queen. His wife’s marital desertion was an extreme
humiliation for Edward when he acknowledged it in Feb 1326 and had to ask his
subjects to prepare for an invasion led by Isabella and her lover. Meantime, Mortimer’s
wife, the unfortunate Joan and their 3 sons, was being held prisoner by Edward,
while Mortimer’s mother managed to keep herself out of the King’s hands.

Illustration of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella

Isabella & Mortimer invade England
- On 20th September 1326, Roger and Isabella joined the invasion fleet
and the small army of 1500 mercenaries they had assembled at Rotterdam, to
invade England. They landed in Suffolk on Sept 24th. Surprised that
the invaders came with such little military force, the King assembled one of
the largest armies ever seen in medieval England to destroy them. He did not reckon
on the love his people had for their Queen who with the young Prince, won them to
her side. What should have been Edward’s overwhelming victory turned into a demoralizing
retreat as the Queen succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of her subjects
as she progressed through the English countryside. With all the resources of
the land at his disposal, the King was effectively paralysed and isolated. He
could not count on the loyalty of the citizens of London, and abandoned the
city in early October. Anarchy reigned in the city as high ranking Royal
supporters were lynched by a mob and brutally executed. Edward fled to
Despenser’s territories in Wales, in vain hope that the Welsh might join him.
Despenser senior was captured and executed by Mortimer after a siege in
Bristol. The King having lost all hope of resisting the wrath to come,
attempted to take ship to Ireland, but failed due to adverse weather. At the
end of October the King and his remaining supporters, including Hugh Despenser,
were captured. Mortimer exacted full and final revenge on Hugh Despenser, who
was tried, condemned and immediately publicly hanged, drawn and quartered in
Hereford.

Royal Abdication - Mortimer and Queen
Isabella were now de facto master and mistress of England, but needed
legitimacy in the eyes of the people and the world. King Edward II had to be
made to abdicate in favour of his fourteen year old son, who was firmly under
their control. A Parliament was duly convened at which the King was given no
other option but to abdicate and pledge support to his son, who was immediately
crowned to replace him. It was the first, but not the last time that the power
of Parliament (representing People Power), was pitted against ‘the Divine right
of Kings’. The ousted King was charged and found guilty of a long list of crimes
against his people and realm and was imprisoned in Kenilworth Castle.

The
new regime found that a live ex-King is not an easy thing to live with, as the Royal
prisoner became the focus of many conspiracies. Life was further complicated by
the need to embark on another inevitable campaign against King Robert Bruce who
was pillaging the North of England. This took Mortimer away from court, earning
him blame from the young King when Roger refused to let him lead his army
against a superior Scottish army who were too well positioned. After weeks of
pointless skirmishing and chasing across Northern England, the Scots simply
returned home.

Conspiracy and Regicide - What happened
next has been the cause of much argument and debate, theory and counter-theory.
The narrative goes that the deposed King died or was murdered while under the
care of Mortimer’s subordinates in Berkeley castle in 21st September
1327. Speculation (then and since) suggests that Mortimer was the prime mover
in Edward’s death as he had much to gain from the King’s demise. (Ian Mortimer proposes
in his book ‘The Greatest Traitor’, that the death and funeral was faked, with
the Queen and the young King “buying into” the ensuing deception for their own good
reasons).

Mortimer
and Isabella now acted as virtual rulers of England. The young King Edward III was
growing older and becoming impatient with his overbearing mentor who was losing
the support of many former allies, envious of his power and influence. He was
blamed for concluding a peace treaty with the Scots which effectively stripped
many Northern Lords of their Scottish estates. Opposition came to a head when
Mortimer insisted on having the King’s uncle, the Earl of Kent executed for
conspiring to rescue the ex-King from Corfe Castle where rumour had it he was
being secretly kept. Mortimer was using Royal power against his enemies, many
of whom fled England.

(Note
- The death of heirless Charles IV of France in Feb 1328, had far-reaching
effects as it opened the possibility that his nephew, King Edward III of
England should inherit the French throne. This would lead to the outbreak of
the Hundred Years War in 1337).

The Fall of Mortimer - It now seemed
that Mortimer’s tyranny was no better that that of Despenser, especially when
Mortimer began to take over huge territories and titles for himself and his
supporters. After 5 years in Mortimer’s shadow, it was time for Edward III to
exert control over his most powerful subject, if he was going to hold onto his
crown – a crown which many feared Mortimer was about to seize for himself,
unless something was urgently done about him.

With
the King’s approval and connivance, Roger Mortimer was arrested in his castle
at Nottingham in October 1330. A month later he was tried and executed in
Tyburn, being spared drawing and quartering meted out to Hugh Despenser three
years before. The main charge against him (one of fourteen); was the regicide
of King Edward II.

Queen
Isabella, who had pleaded for Mortimer’s life to be spared, was retired with a
comfortable pension and lived privately until her death in 1358.

Comment - Sir Roger Mortimer was one of
the most colourful figures of medieval England. Many of his political
activities were cloaked in secrecy, which means that his importance in the
paradigm of the age is often overlooked and understated. His relatively short life provides a rich
source of material to inspire many books of more than one genre; be it romance,
political drama, (even a detective novel for any writer feeling inclined to
delve into the machinations surrounding King Edward II’s murder [or not?]). He
was a true Machievellian in a pre-Machievellian age who eventually lost out to
an equally unscrupulous King, for whom he had done so much to place on
England’s throne. Mortimer inevitably became the final victim of his own
insatiable ambition.

Sir
Roger Mortimer features in my book ‘Morgallion’ which is set in early 14th
century Ireland during the Bruce invasion, which sought to establish a Bruce
dynasty in Ireland. Sir Roger was largely instrumental in preserving
the English colony and restoring English hegemony there.

7 comments:

What an excellent piece on Roger Mortimer. My only complaint is that modern pictures of medieval men so frequently make them look sullen and ill-shaved. But that's a trifle compared to the concise, clear rendering of history Arthur Russell has given us.Katherine Ashe, authorMontfort

Thanks for your good words Katherine. I have long had an interest in Roger Mortimer and regard him as one who has never been accorded due recognition for the role he played. Much of this is due to his own desire to operate in the background orchestrating people and events. He well understood the dangers of showing his hand in a world that was not ready to question or subvert the Divine right of Kings. A future generation in England, and later in France; would do it with a lot more success.

What an excellent piece on Roger Mortimer. My only complaint is that modern pictures of medieval men so frequently make them look sullen and ill-shaved. But that's a trifle compared to the concise, clear rendering of history Arthur Russell has given us.Katherine Ashe, authorMontfort

Brilliant - I agree that Roger Mortimer is very underrated and his contribution usually ignored. I've always thought it a huge pity that he wasn't able to stay longer in Ireland as he was one of the most effective 'crown' representatives for centuries.

Roger Mortimer was firstly introduced as a patriot who later developed a Mchiavellian due to circumstances created because of the stubborn nature of his king and little because of greed.Thankyou.Really a helpful note.

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